Alterniverse: StH Issue 172
by Vorahk295
Summary: Another infamous issue gets rewritten to make actual sense, this time by two writers, instead of one. The duo behind Splintered Shadows reunite to tear one of the worst comic stories apart. Tails stands up for himself, Fiona's character matches her development, Scourge isn't overglorified, and Sonic isn't ineffectual.
1. Chapter 1

**Want to know what happens when I mix Alterniverse and Splintered Shadows? You get this.**

**172, AKA "The truth of the heart", is without a doubt my most hated story in the entirety of the comic's run, so when it came time to write the inevitable Alterniverse for it, I invited my friend Battlebrothertherix along for the ride. Like with Splintered Shadows, we alternated parts on DA, but I'm uploading all of them here, for your convenience, and ours. Still, he deserves a lot of the credit, and he's a much better writer than me, so go check his stuff out.**

* * *

_Hurry up!_

That was the only thing on the mind of young Miles 'Tails' Prower. It was only a few minutes since he had burst into Freedom HQ, and warned Sonic, Sally, and all the others that Fiona and Amy were fighting. Sonic, being Sonic, had taken off, immediately, leaving Sally to ask Tails himself all the questions.

For once, the fox hadn't really had an answer that was favourable. His only appraisal was that the fight had started from a combination of Amy's short temper, Fiona's snarky attitude, and the fact that Fiona herself was currently dating Sonic.

Now Tails found himself having to hurry to catch up. Sally had kept him longer than he wanted, and he knew that Sonic's skill with diplomacy was, quite frankly, pathetic. It was something the blue hedgehog had always relied on Sally for, and thus had never learned to do himself. Sonic's verbal skills were limited to further aggravating his opponents until they flipped out and the argument became physical, at which point Sonic would put the other combatant on the ground in extreme pain in about five seconds.

Of course, when breaking up a catfight between his equally sarcastic girlfriend and his..._jealous admirer_, Sonic's brand of arguing was useless.

Soon, the clearing came into view, and he dropped, lowering himself to better see the ground below.

_Empty?_

Now he was worried. If they weren't there, then was the fight over? Sonic couldn't have broken it up that easily, could he? Then... who had won? Fiona was not as skilled a fighter as many liked to think. Her presence on missions was generally welcomed because of her medical skills. At the same time, Amy was not only stronger, but armed. He had seen what that hammer could do to a SWATbot, let alone a soft, squishy Mobian, and several times he had pressed the weapon to be replaced with one made from a softer material with an EMP inside it, but Amy's frenzied swings broke everything except the Megatal one she currently carried. If Fiona had taken even a single hit from that...

Tails pushed those thoughts from his mind, and swung himself around in the air. He kept low, hoping to catch sight of Fiona, or Sonic, or even Amy, just so he could find out what happened.

Soon enough, he got his answer. He saw two of them, Sonic and Fiona, standing in a clearing, with another figure, this one green. Drawing nearer, he realised that it was _him_, Sonic's foul counterpart, Scourge. He was standing behind Fiona, grinning, leaning on a tree. At first, Tails thought he was about to attack them, but he realised that both were aware of the hedgehog, and worse, Fiona was smiling.

It didn't take an IQ of four hundred to work out what was going on. Fiona was in a league with Scourge. She was betraying the Freedom Fighters for him. Maybe he had charmed her, maybe he had pretended to be Sonic, and by the time she found out, she was infatuated, it didn't matter. What mattered was Scourge's nature. What he became once he wasn't trying to play someone. His _true_ nature. It all pointed to one thing- If Fiona left with Scourge, he would kill her.

He started planning. Sonic probably knew as well as Tails himself did that Fiona was unwittingly walking into the arms of her own would-be killer. However, fi there was one person Sonic couldn't fight, it was himself. Scourge had a slightly different fighting style, yes, but that was only because he had absorbed more power, and if anything, it made him more dangerous.

Amy wasn't there, which meant she was probably already on her way back to Knothole. This meant that Sonic would be getting backup, but they would only know Amy's side of of the story, and thus, would probably perceive Fiona as an enemy as well.

Reaching out mentally, he felt the warm, arcane glow of the seven, synthetic Chaos Emeralds in his backpack. He was the only fully-informed backup that Sonic would be receiving, and he would have to make it count.

He cut the motion in his namesakes, and dropped, then brought them to life again, this time spinning in the opposite direction, pushing him forward, and downward. He quickly hit his highest speed, his own natural capabilities driven further by gravity.

He curled up into a tight ball, again stopping the motion of his tails, and wrapped them around his tightly-balled form. The outward-facing edges hardened and sharpened, and he brought his entire form down on the head of Scourge the Hedgehog.

The amount of force acting on the thin body of his foe should have instantly broken his neck, but Scourge was not only a Mobian, renowned for having a far greater physical strength than a human or Overlander, but an Adept, which were generally stronger still. Being a counterpart to Sonic, Scourge was now exception. Sure, he found himself in the bottom of a rather large personal crater, the edge of which was just shy of Fiona's heels, but that didn't stop him from immediately springing to his feet and kicking Tails out of it.

The fox himself was dazed by both the impact and the blow that followed, hearing a pair of voices speaking his name, presumably Sonic and Fiona, but at the time, being unable to work it out. A fist embedded itself in his gut, but Fiona's muffled voice sounded again, saying something that sounded like 'stop'. The blows did.

Taking the opportunity, Tails shook his head, regaining his bearings. Scourge was a foot away from him, rage etched on his face, with blood running from a gash on his forehead. Fiona was leaning around the green hedgehog, her mouth hanging open with surprise at Tails' violent outburst. He had to talk to her, but first, he had to get Scourge out of the way. Thankfully, he had a target.

Fixing the wound in his stare, he realised that it was a little high to hit with his tails. He would have to bring it down to his level. Thankfully, he had a way.

"Kid, you have about ten seconds to back off or I'm gonna fucking kill you." Scourge ranted, not realising why his opponent had not spoken a word. In response, Tails sharpened both of his namesakes into razor-edges, and slashed them along the the scars in Scourge's chest. Instantly, he doubled over, pain shooting through him. Tails twisted, and used the full-turn to build momentum, before striking Scourge's head wound again, knocking him into a daze, and launching him into a nearby tree.

Tails calmed himself, and turned to Fiona, approaching her carefully.

"Fiona, please, you have to listen to me. I know that you don't _'like me'_ like me, but that doesn't matter right now. Stay with Sonic, or whatever, I don't mind, but don't go with Scourge! Please, don't. He'll kill you."

The vixen paused, a smug smirking creeping onto her face. It was an unnatural look for her, a twisted look for someone normally sweet and caring.

"And how do you know that? You don't know Scourge at all." She pointed out.  
"You're right." Tails admitted. Fiona smirked. "But I know Sonic. I've known Sonic all my life. Scourge is the Sonic from his world, and that world is the Anti-Zone. It's the opposite of ours, and he's the opposite of Sonic. So I know what he's going to be like. He'll kill you. He's everything you used to think that Sonic himself was."

Fiona paused, her eyes widening slightly as she ran through the idea in her mind. She lowered herself slightly, staring into Tails' eyes, trying to read his expression. He stood stock-still, making no attempt to break away, to hide anything from her. For a moment his eyes flicked to Scourge, still recovering from the strike. He had gained enough of a hold to stand and glare. Not long left.  
"Come on…why would she stay?" Scourge spat, one hand wiping the blood away, but only succeeding in smearing it across his cheek. "Not like you gave any reason to."

"Do you mean apart from you? Apart from the fact even if you don't make her life a hell, then the world will kill her anyway? How kind, Scourge. How very kind, to condemn her to a slow death."  
Scourge stopped. So did Fiona.  
Tails watched them both, trying to understand, and then the irony of the situation hit him.  
"You don't even know." The kitsune almost growled. "I thought you had Sonic's intelligence. I would have thought you would know what would happen, from your own experience."

"What is he talking about, Scourge?" Fiona asked, looking to get an answer straight from the horse, or rather hedgehog's mouth.

"A Mobian of any sort, Anti, No-Zone, Prime, whatever, is not meant to leave their own world. Our bodies, whether Adept or Normal, digest the Chaos Energy in the atmosphere, the radiation from the Chaos Emeralds, and now, Master Emerald." The golden fox cut in. He was in his element now, explaining complicated things to people. "But Scourge's world doesn't have those. They have a similar counterpart, yes, but not similar enough. Your body will break down, slowly, painfully, and you'll die. And Scourge will be getting to know what that feels like personally. He's filled his body with Chaos Energy. When his connection to the Emerald was severed, it saved his life, seemingly at the cost of his sanity. The green fur isn't just tacky dye job. It's a mutation."

"Oh."  
"What're you going on about now? I swear, you're like Miles, but with no balls." Scourge muttered, causing Tails let out a sigh of exasperation, and clutched his forehead.  
"And just when I thought you couldn't get less intelligent. Fiona, even if he doesn't try to kill you, he'll get you killed through sheer incompetence."  
"Kid, you're dead meat." Scourge snarled.  
"Bring it then."

That was enough for the green hedgehog. He wasn't the most patient kind to begin with, and he didn't like being insulted. He fired forward, hand outstretched towards Tails' throat. His plan was simple…break his neck. His target didn't have the speed to dodge at such close range, and the kitsune could at best see a green blur against a green background.

Scourge was fast. His mind was naturally tuned to making decisions fast, whether or not they were the right ones. Tails was just smart. The instant he saw Scourge move, he fell backwards, the time taken for the hedgehog to move being long enough for him to drop below his hand, and send both his feet into the blur's stomach. There was a satisfying whoosh of air as his lungs deflated, and a grunt in pain, both as his feet connected and then as Scourge sailed into a tree just outside his field of vision.

He turned the kick into a recovery, using his own momentum to push to his feet and spin, keeping his movements tight and controlled. He hated Scourge, but he wasn't about to lose his cool just yet.

Scourge, however, had already lost his cool entirely. He rocketed back into Tails' field of view, leaving the fox with barely a second to react, as he went for the neck again. He dove to the side, leaving the hedgehog to screech to a halt again. Tails pushed himself up again, and, to his surprise, noticed Fiona doing the same nearby. Were the others here already, and attacking her? Or had Scourge himself done it?

The answer quickly came, as he heard Scourge break into a top-speed run again, letting off a sonic boom, and Fiona collapsed again.  
_The shockwaves are hurting her._ He thought, as another blow crashed into his back, flooring him once more. _And I'm too tied up to do anything about it._

Thankfully, Tails was not alone in noticing the vixen's struggle, Sonic appearing apparently from nowhere, grabbing Fiona's arm.

"What are you doing?" She growled, trying to pull her arm away.

"Getting you out of here. We're not exactly gonna see eye to eye at the moment, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't help you. Come on." He shot down her arguments, and pulled her over into the next clearing, before letting her go. He then turned, and started to rub his chin thoughtfully.

"Now what?"  
"Trying to work out whether I can get the others here before Scourge rips Tails into multiple messy bits. And the answer is probably 'no'."

Sonic ran off, not at his fastest – he actually cared about Fiona's well-being - back towards the clearing where Tails was fighting Scourge. As soon as he was out of range of Fiona, he accelerated again. He wasn't going to give Scourge any chance to hurt his friend, if he could help it.

The blue hedgehog broke through the treeline, in time to see Tails sidestep Scourge, stick his namesakes out, and send his foe tumbling head-over-paws in a cloud of obscenities, for what was probably the fourth time. As Scourge stood up again, though, Tails' backpack was ripped open from the inside, as seven gems, each with a dull green lustre, floated out, and began to revolve around the fox's body.

"Is anything I'm saying sinking in Scourge?" Tails asked, locking eyes with his opponent. "Have you been listening to even a word I'm saying?"  
Scourge didn't listen – he didn't care. Of course…he charged again, and met Tails' fist midway, the force of the impact slamming the green Mobian into the ground.  
"Of course you haven't." The kitsune's foot shot out and hit Scourge's side, kicking him away with a cracking sound that meant at least one broken rib. "You don't care. You wouldn't! You might have Sonic's speed, his cocksure bloody attitude, but you don't give two shits about anyone except yourself."

Sonic shouted something, but Tails couldn't hear. He was barely keeping himself in check as it was…and even that control was slipping by the second.  
"Grow some balls kid…life isn't fair on anyone." Even with a broken rib and a bloody face, Scourge couldn't resist taunting Tails. "Least of all-" He didn't get to finish his sentence. A wave of concussive force pushed him painfully to the ground again.  
"Keep that spiteful little mouth of yours shut, Scourge." Tails continued, stopping a few feet away from his target, veins standing out along his arms and forehead as he kept himself reigned in for at least a few seconds more. "I'm not interested in anything you have to say. I'm here because you're just here fucking with my life and those around me, all because it makes you feel good about yourself. Superior. Take a reality check Scourge. All we see is a pathetic little waste of my time, and a waste of space. I could put you in a chamber and leave you to rot on this world for as long as it takes, but you'd take up too much space, even if I made it a very small box."

The emeralds, still orbiting him throughout, flickered suddenly, a change subtle enough for Tails to miss, even as they closed with him, and disappeared.  
**"I think I'll finish you quickly."**

A sudden gale tore through the forest around them, and in the movement Tails' fur rippled, each hair shading to black, the colour being drained out of it until no light left it, leaving only an outline and silhouette, two demonic red eyes the only glaring, searing detail on his face. True to it, his vision was red, and Scourge was right in his path.

**"Come on Scourge. You're stupid, retarded even. But you should have realised that you can piss ****_anyone_**** off. Rest assured, I won't let them find enough of you to bury."**


	2. Chapter 2

The outburst of dark energy left black liquid fire dripping from the kitsune's form, blackening the grass and filling the clearing with the sharp aroma of death. Tails stood motionless, only a bare fraction of him now not given over to this all-consuming rage, and that fraction was no longer in control. He could feel the darkness coursing through his form, and in this state he could not deny that he enjoyed it, like a guilty pleasure. It felt good to finally give voice to his rage. It felt good to let it out. And by Chaos it felt good to use it against Scourge.

Scourge, meanwhile, was not feeling good at all. If there was any emotion he felt other than fear, it was buried deep within him. The ebon-furred fox was now levitating slowly towards him, a rather mad smile playing across his lips. Desperately, he tried to appeal to Tails' famous good nature.

"H-hey, kid, listen. If it's about the girl, you can have her! Honest! I didn't know you were this wild about her, and really, I'm not that fond of her, she's just kinda hot, so take her!" He pleaded, raising his hands. Tails rolled his eyes, unsurprised at how quickly Scourge had switched. He focused the power of his Dark form, and warped behind Scourge, cracking his knuckles against the Moebian's skull, knocking him to the ground.

"**Oh no, it's not that simple.**" He started, kicking his quarry in the side, flipping him into the air. "**You see, you're part of the problem. You're the one that lead her astray, the one that tempted her. The best way to stop her from seeking you out again, in the event of a further lapse in judgement, or an outburst of anger, is to remove you from the equation entirely.**" He warped again, grabbed the hedgehog by the throat, and held him in place, mid-air. "**Furthermore, if you think this is all about Fiona, then surely it's a bad idea to refer to her as if she is a mere object that means nothing to you. Just a word of advice.**"

There was a moment he thought that perhaps, just maybe, he couldn't really control this power. Then it occurred to him that he didn't care. His muscles twitched, pure destructive energy rushing through into his helpless victim. Again, Sonic yelled something at his friend, but Tails didn't hear, nor did he care. He was lost in the moment, the pure sadistic delight of it all.

Even so, he had to give him credit. Through the agony that was every nerve in his body burning, Scourge managed to clamp his hands round Tails' wrist, struggling, pulling pitifully against the chaos-enhanced musculature in a vain attempt to claw his way out of the situation. "I- I- I get-" He spluttered out through a choked windpipe.

Tails heard the words and his face split in a jagged, rictus grin, teeth bared. **"You get it? You understand me? You don't understand anyone but yourself. All your understanding is rammed into this little glass bauble that is your skull! You want your own crater as well?"** He lifted Scourge above his head, staring in contempt into his eyes for a moment, then brought him down into the ground, the impact driving the hedgehog into the dirt and a muffled popping informing him of a broken rib. **"I want you to feel all the pain you've inflicted, all the hurt you've caused! I want you to suffer it along with the rest of us Scourge, but I think I'd rather just kill you."**

"Th-th-then just d-d-do it!" The green hedgehog spat, defiant despite the croaking of his voice. Tails raised an eyebrow, and sneered, holding his hand forward and spreading his fingers wide, black fire flaring up around them. **"You're trying to goad me, trying to make me snap and kill you quickly. Sorry, but that's not going to happen. You don't deserve that mercy. I want you to feel it, to suffer. I want to enjoy it.**"

The liquid flames began to peel away from Tails' form once again, coalescing into a single black orb between them, the fire licking from the top and the dark liquid of it splashing towards the ground in thick globules, humming and wavering with barely-contained power. Without apparent reason Scourge convulsed, the muscles on his body tightening beyond their natural limit, purple and green mist seeping from his eyes, mouth and ears, spinning in trails into the black orb. The green energy sank into it, the purple spray burning up as it made contact, sometimes with sharp plumes of violet flame.

His foe's fur began to change, darkening rapidly as if it too was burning, losing its green vibrancy and taking on a bluer hue. Scourge saw the changes through the pain and his watering eyes, somewhere in his mind half-understanding now what was happening. He glanced towards Tails, eyes begging for mercy, for any sort of respite – and then widened in horror. The kitsune's skin was writhing like snakes crawled beneath the fur, and he could see it thicken, bulking up, bones and musculature toughening and aging just as quickly, like he was feeding on the suffering he now caused.

"**This is a Chaos Drain. I'm pulling of the energy from your body, and adding it to my own reserves. As you can see, I'm putting it to a better use as well. The smaller muscles I had before are only capable of so much, even with my powers augmenting them. So I had to make a few changes. And luckily for you, it doesn't stop here.**" Tails exposited, his voice now sounding much deeper, and more like his father.

"It has to!"

Tails froze. Before, yelling had only reached him as a vague babble. Now he could hear the words. True, they still sounded faint, and the voice was unreadable, but he heard them. Pausing the drain, he turned, and found Fiona staring at him from the edge of the clearing, her eyes wide with fear and shock.

"It has to stop." She repeated.  
"**I can't stop, and this is exactly why. That temptation will always remain.**"  
"I'm not going to go with him. I don't want that slow, painful death. But look at yourself, Tails. Look at what you're doing! You're torturing someone for kicks! Look at what you're becoming!"

His eyes flicked between Fiona and Scourge, one he protected and the other he wanted to destroy. The sadistic grin faded from his face, going blank, his rage-flooded mind struggling to understand what she was saying.  
"Look at what you're doing, bud!" Sonic…it could only be Sonic, though he did not turn to see. "You said this guy causes all this suffering, and check what you're doing! You wanna be just like him or what?"

That…what…was he doing? That little part of him that wasn't consumed by the anger…was screaming. Screaming that he wasn't like this, that he was better than this. But Sonic had to be wrong! How could he…how could he be like this bastard? He was nothing like him! This is why he was fighting- killing him! He hated…_No._

He saw Fiona open her mouth to speak again, and raised a hand. _Wait._ And looked back towards Scourge. The hedgehog had gone limp, panting heavily as his damaged nervous system struggled to repair itself. He only had another moment of respite before the kitsune's foot slammed into his ribs, kicking him several feet along the ground, and then once again he turned his gaze to Fiona.  
**"Then what do you suggest I do?"** He asked, the rage in his voice quelled for a moment. **"Would you rather I let him go?"**  
"Well, too late for that." The voice made him spin…no-one there. Had he- no-one there. Scourge had been lying there nursing several broken ribs only seconds ago.

**"Damnit!"** Tails roared, the rage in him blossoming anew. **"Sonic, come on! We're going after him."**  
A moment later and the hedgehog stood by his side. "Alright, but _I_ decide what we do with him."  
"**And what do you propose we do?**"  
"I dunno, I'm tryin' to think like Sal here, and it's not something I'm used to. Let's just make sure he doesn't get away first. I'll go ground level, you take to the air."  
"**Fair enough.** Tails nodded, before turning to face Fiona. "**Stay here, and when the others show up, don't snark or be aggressive. With any luck, we'll be back before they show, but if we aren't, you're not exactly in a favourable spot right now, and Amy can be... overzealous.**

The vixen nodded, and Tails offered a weak smile, before shooting straight upwards, and speeding off through the air, as Sonic vanished into the woods.

* * *

Now suspended above the treeline, and peering through the leaves below, Tails found his mind wandering back to the vixen. This was not abnormal for him, but his view of her was certainly being called into question now.

_How should I feel about all of this? She was going to leave us, ditch us, for Scourge of all people. But... when I explained what he's really like, she was... confused? Shocked? A mix of the two, more like. Perhaps he fooled her into believing he was trustworthy... no, that's just absurd, she's much smarter than him... but he's a damn good liar. He fooled Sally, he fooled me; he fooled everyone into believing that he was the real Sonic. And Fiona had just the right sort of fucked up past to make it easy for him. Added, it's pretty plain that Sonic is still pining after Sally, and the others don't trust her, particularly Sally and Amy. That's it! It all adds up. She's lonely, her boyfriend's not giving her the affection and care she deserves, she feels untrusted, and she's being manipulated by one of the best liars I've ever met."_ tails shuddered, the black fur standing on end. He was still seething with barely-controlled rage, but now it knew direction and purpose. Now tempered by the guilt of not seeing all this sooner, and kept in check by his feelings for Fiona, beating within him.

Tails was snapped from both the surprisingly lucid monologue and the search by the sound of something landing on the nearest treetop. He looked down to see Sonic perched there, and floated towards him.

"**Find anything?**"  
"Nope." Sonic groaned, shrugging. "And I searched every part of the forest, except the clearing. See anything from above?"  
"**No, there was only one blue blur whizzing around below, and that was you. How did he get here, anyway?**"  
"I dunno, he just kinda appeared. Last time he left with a Warp Ring, though. Think he could have done the same?"  
"**Possibly. Or maybe he actually did go back for Fiona and circled back after we left.**"  
"Not possible, and you should know that. It's something that I'd do."  
"**Sonic, I'm not sound of mind at the minute, so I don't exactly have great clarity of thought. Besides, think about it. You'd do that because you're smart, you'd do it to get it done…"** he paused, breathing deeply. **"But he might do it because I just beat the living shit out of him. Scourge loves revenge, remember? He'll take any opportunity."**

"And if he's still running around the forest? We leave ourselves open if we go one way or another."  
**"So we split up. Remember how we used to do that? You go one way and I go the other."** Tails snapped. Sonic flinched at his friend's vigour, reassuring himself it was not his choice. **"If he's running, you'll be able to keep pace, so you keep looking through the forest, I'll head back."** He began to rise into the air when a faint noise pricked his ears. A tapping…no…buzzing? _Voices._

His neck snapped round. **"Sonic, cancel that. Get back there, now. We've both been played."** he surged up above the treeline without waiting for a response, his mind's eye picking out the clearing through a sea of green foliage. Above the wind the voices weren't audible anymore…anything could be happening. The clear patch came into view and he dived towards it as Sonic skidded into the space, careening sideways to avoid him and bouncing off a tree.  
Apart from him, it was empty.  
**"Nothing."** The kitsune growled. **"Gone."** He glanced towards Sonic. **"You were saying?"**  
"Alright!" The hedgehog threw his hands up. "You were right and I was wrong! You going to torture me too? Tails, I know you're pissed off more than Knuckles when someone leaves chocolate on the Master Emerald, but you can either chase me around the forest or we can go after Scourge."

"There's no... need for that." An all too familiar voice panted behind them. Both Mobians whirled around to see Scourge stepping out from behind a tree. He looked slightly less ragged than he did a moment ago, but neither cared about that. Instead, their attention was attracted by Fiona, her arms pulled behind her back, and her feet and tail tied together with a rope. She was struggling and squirming, but froze when Scourge pulled a switchblade from his pocket, extended the blade, and held it to her throat.

"**Let her go. ****_Now._**" Tails snarled, his twin namesakes sharpening again.  
"One step at a time... kid. I'll let her go... but first, you turn back to normal, and drop those rocks."  
"You know it would take either of us about a second to get over there and knock that knife out of your hands, fake me." Sonic pointed out.  
"True... but I'm as fast as you. You even look like you're gonna move, and she gets the chop."  
"**Fine...**" Tails' body ejected the seven stones, which fell to the ground around his feet, and he dropped to his knees from exhaustion, the use of the synthetic Emeralds and the transformation of his body catching up with him. "Now give her to me."

Scourge smirked, and let out a laugh. He flipped the blade away from the vixen's neck, and pocketed it. Then, he hoisted her over his shoulder, and threw out his Warp Ring. It opened behind Tails, and the formerly green hedgehog surged forward, scooping up the Emeralds and leaping into the portal.

"Suckers!" He crowed. "You're supposed to be smart, but man, if you thought I'd ever give up the best hostage I ever took, you're fuckin' retarded! Laters!"

The ring snapped shut, and vanished.


	3. Chapter 3

All Tails felt he could do now was punch the ground in frustration…if he still had the energy. She had been within his reach, she hadn't wanted to go...not anymore…and he had failed her. He'd attacked Scourge and almost killed him. If Sonic and Fiona hadn't gotten involved he would have. He was right – it was still Scourge who had caused this, still that waste of bone and sinew, but it had no longer been temptation. Now he had to deal with…  
"This is your fault, you know." He wheezed, on his hands and knees, not bothering to look at Sonic.  
"What did I do?" Even the hero's normally cocksure style had been muted by the moment, and his voice was eerily quiet.  
"You just had to step in. If you had just let me kill him, we wouldn't be in this mess. I could have burned him into nothingness and you could have given me that little speech after he was dead, but you had to step in while the fucker could still do some real damage."

"Don't give me that." His pseudo-brother's tone took on a cold edge. "I was already trying to stop her going when you showed up. I don't like to see sadists like Scourge torturing people, so don't expect me to watch you become just like him." He looked over at him. "It's a shit situation I know, but I'm not the one to blame. Scourge is the one who's kidnapped her. Don't worry bro, we're going after her. I'm not just giving up."

"You... you have a point. We should probably get moving as soon as possible, make our own way to Moebius."  
"We need the others."  
"We don't have time to debate the morals choices with them as to whether we save Fiona. They only know Amy's version of events, and let's be honest, she's not Fiona's biggest fan at the best of times. Even Amy herself doesn't know that I convinced Fiona to stay."  
"It'll take more time to get our own Warp Ring than it will to convince the others. Can you stand?"  
"Getting there. Listen, Sonic, about this whole Fiona thing-"  
"Bud, before you say anything, I'm sorry. I shoulda at least let you try and win her over before deciding that she wasn't interested and movin' in myself."  
"I-it's okay."

As Tails managed to get one of his feet under him, and started pushing up, Sonic moved to help, only to be halted by the vulpine's raised hand.

"I can manage." He reassured his friend, as they heard the hubbub of voices approaching. Sure enough, the Freedom Fighters, at least the core group, entered the clearing, Amy at their head. Instantly, they were around Tails, various levels of sympathy etched on their faces. "Before anyone asks what Fiona did to me, the answer is nothing."

"You mean aside from lie through her teeth and run off with Scourge?" Amy hissed. "And then leave you like this?"  
"Amy, can it." The golden fox growled, forcing himself to his feet. "Fiona didn't leave of her own choosing. I convinced her to stay, I showed her the mistake she was making. But Scourge is a bastard; he kidnapped her anyway. I'm in this condition because I used the synthetic Chaos Emeralds that I made to fight Scourge. Depowering weakened me- I couldn't replicate the full heal the real Emeralds give. Happy now?"

"Not exactly." Sally cut in. "First off, that still doesn't explain why you've gained a foot or so, and I can't quite match up how Fiona went from cheating on Sonic with Scourge to deciding not to go with Scourge and getting kidnapped by him."

"That, in itself, is somewhat complicated. First off, we have to consider Fiona's past. It's a touchy subject for her, but it's just the right kind of background to leave her wide open to manipulation by our enemies. Second, we have the fact that Scourge is very good at lying, especially if he's pretending to be a suave charmer. Of course, once I deconstructed this mental image of what she was getting herself into, and warned her that spending any great length of time in an alternate universe will result in an agonizing death, she didn't really want to go anymore. However, there is a third reason why Fiona fell under Scourge's sway, and that reason is all of us. Yes, we're her friends, but we aren't exactly supportive, are we? We didn't give her the trust and care she needed. Furthermore, while she and Sonic were indeed dating... it's pretty clear that Sonic is still pining after you, Sally, and he's not exactly been a warm partner."

"I see..." Sally mused, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "It makes sense, I guess."  
"So you're saying that we caused this?" Amy asked, veins sticking out in her forehead.  
"Yes. You me, Sonic, Sally, everyone. Yes, Fiona betrayed us... technically. She hasn't done anything to actually hurt us, nor has she fed Scourge any information, because let's be honest, Scourge's actions against us just consist of him showing up and attacking Sonic. He's not a planner; he has no use for a spy. The only thing she's betrayed is our trust, and as I just said, we didn't give her that anyway."

"Look, it's all well an' good standin' here and debatin' this, but all the tahme we do, Fiona-girl's stuck in another world with the green bean!" Bunnie broke in.  
"Yeah." Sonic nodded. "Except he's not green anymore. Tails pulled all the Chaos energy out of him. I don't really know how it works, but I think it explains the instant puberty. We've gotta get to Moebius, get Fi, recover those fake Emeralds, and get back. And probably flatten Scourge again for good measure along the way."

* * *

The portal flashed open on Moebius, Non-existent then existent, the two occupants stumbling out of it – one through pain and the other shock. His physiology was healing but it would still be a little while before his ribs fixed themselves. The drain of energy had left large sections of his body numbed as well, and Scourge dropped Fiona to the ground gracelessly as he himself dropped to his knees, taking a moment to get his breath back. He had only a moment however, before Fiona stumbled unsteadily to her feet and too a few uncertain steps towards the trees, and his face twisted back into that all-too-familiar grin.  
"Where ya gonna go, huh?" He snapped. "Not gonna find anywhere to escape on Moebius."  
She refused to listen, examining the treeline over and over, her mind now frantic to find some way to escape this new predicament.  
"No way out now…" Scourge cackled. "Should've run when you had the chance. You're gonna have to come with me if you have any chance of living now." He thought for a moment, then threw back his head, laughing maniacally. "I can take you to Tails!" He shouted, still laughing at his own wit.

The mention of his name finally got a reaction – she turned, stomping back to him, pulling up divots as she tried to take out her new anger and fear of the hedgehog in the dirt around her. She wasn't an idiot, she knew he was lying about Tails, but if going with him got her somewhere…well, it was more than she would accomplish alone. Shoulder-travel was cheaper than starvation.  
So she yelped when he grabbed a fistful of her hair and leaned in close, breathing down her neck…literally. He didn't meet her gaze; he was too busy looking at her cleavage.  
"Alright, bitch…" He breathed – though the effect was ruined by his clear perversion – "I was gonna be nice, but since you tried to dump me, I don't feel like that now. So every time you misbehave, I'm gonna hurt you. Sound good?" He asked, his eyes drifting up to hers.

"Of course it doesn't." She hissed. "For either of us. You know he'll catch up, you know he'll find us, and you've already experienced what he'll be like." Fiona backed off slightly, folding her arms, as Scourge paused for a moment.  
"Didn't you get the memo? Fastest thing alive, bitch. He's got about as much hope of catchin' me as you do of making it out of this unhurt, because here I am, tryin' to be reasonable, and you're throwin' it back in my face. Now start walkin'. I can't be bothered to carry you, but I can still catch you if you try to run." He smirked, pulling the knife from his pocket again. Fiona's arms sagged, and she did as commanded, defeated.

"Where are you taking me?" She asked after a while.  
"My place, of course. It ain't much, but well, get used to it, because it's your new home."  
"I don't think so."  
"Did you miss the part where it became pretty clear that you belong to me now? And really, babe, stop diggin' yourself deeper. You're makin' it real hard not to just stab you right now."  
"Fuck off. You won't stab me – you said it yourself, I'm a brilliant hostage. Corpses don't make good hostages."  
He stopped again, trying ever harder to control his anger. He was right of course; she was a brilliant hostage alive, but if he actually killed her…well, then he couldn't count on anyone's cooperation. Didn't mean he couldn't bash her around a bit though…He seized her arm from behind, twisting it up behind her and making her cry out in pain. He held it there for a moment, then shoved her forward. She stumbled again, tripping and falling over the forest undergrowth. A small mercy that she retained her balance and didn't fall.

"Babe, that will hurt a whole lot more if you don't shut up." Scourge warned her once again.  
"And you put your hands on her again and I'll tear your throat out." A monotone voice came out of the trees ahead. "Why did you bring her here?"  
"Ah, you know Miles, you and queenie yiffing through the wall, I gotta get some of that action too you know."  
"You know what I mean." A dark shape detached itself from the trees and dropped to the ground, straightening as Scourge stepped up behind Fiona, poking her in the back with the knife in an unspoken command not to move. Miles straightened, showing a well-built frame with a wiry toughness to it. The colouring, the stance, even the pain in the eyes…it all screamed _"Tails!"_ at her. But it wasn't him. Her gut knew that, even with this apparent concern for her, it wasn't the Tails she knew.

Scourge was laughing. "I didn't even think about that! Got an ace over you too by the looks of things, Miles."  
"You never think before you do anything. By the looks of it your recent bout of not thinking has lost you your colours as well." The kitsune took a step forward. "Now let her go, or I promise you I will gut you where you stand."  
"You won't be fast enough, just like Tails." The hedgehog smirked evilly, brandishing the knife and placing it back at Fiona's throat, as he had done before. "Keep well away from me and the chick or watch her choke on her own blood, your choice."  
"Do not test me, Scourge. My counterpart might have been more lenient, but you have to take your attention away from the both of us at some point, you have to sleep, and when you do, if you have tried anything further, I'll finish what was started back on Mobius."

To Fiona, the line between Tails and her would-be saviour was blurring all the more, at least in terms of actions. It was pretty plain that this 'Miles' was the Tails of Scourge's world, but he was different. Taller, slightly bulkier, with neat black hair instead of the messy gold she was familiar with. He was clad in gunmetal grey armour, with two sharp spines extending upwards from his shoulder blades, and he had a sword in its scabbard slung across his back.

"Tell you what, Miles. I won't kill her, if you take me to Alicia. Deal?"  
"Don't listen to him!" Fiona called out, surprising all present, herself included. "I'm no good to him dead! If anything, he'd be even more screwed!"  
"Let's change it a little, then." Scourge snarled, pulling out his Warp Ring. "If she doesn't keep her huge yap shut, and you don't take me to your skanky dominatrix queen, I'll hop across to another world, make her wish she was dead, and then grant it! How does that sound?"

Fiona whimpered slightly, and Miles' eyes momentarily flickered again. He mouthed something silently to himself- Fiona didn't know what, but it made Scourge's hideous grin widen, showing more of his filed, yellow teeth. The vulpine looked back at the hedgehog, glaring venomously at him, and finally gave his answer.

"I won't let you do it again." He shivered. "I'll take you to Alicia." He half-turned away, then paused again. "But if I were you, I'd let her walk the rest of the way under her own steam. I heard some of those threats, and if you decide to carry them out, I can't be held accountable for what I might do."  
Scourge hesitated, torn between the threat and his prize, and eventually settled for shoving Fiona to his side, spitting at the ground in an attempt to retain his authority. "Aight, the girl can walk, but…" He glanced her way. "You step any closer to that shit-stain and you'll both get it in the throat."

That was enough for her. Suitably cowed by Scourge's attitude, she began to walk in line with him, one hand testing the skin around her neck.  
"If you've brought her here, I can't hold out much hope that you did it on the quiet then?" Miles asked behind him, his tone once again muted and calm. "You're not the most demure."  
"What's the point of goin' somewhere if no-one knows you went? Go places to leave marks, ya know."  
Miles grimaced. "Then we'll have people from the other world on their way over. Ally won't be pleased."  
"Why should I care what your frigid ice-queen thinks?"  
The kitsune didn't even turn to deliver his rebuttal. "First, a woman isn't frigid if she doesn't bang you, she just has better taste. Second, you should care what she thinks because she's queen. You're tough, Scourge, but if she tells me to kill you, I won't hesitate and nor will Anima. And no, you won't have a chance to use your victim there as a shield."  
"Fastest th-"

"Yes yes, we all know of your little title. We also all know that you can't outrun time, which I can easily halt with Anarchy." Miles cut him off, before looking over his shoulder at Fiona. "What is your name?"  
"F-Fiona." She stammered, surprised.  
"The Prime Mobius' version... Scourge, you must be functionally retarded. What in Anarchy's name told you it was a good idea to try and take her?"  
"Mostly the tits, and the fact that all I have to do is hold the knife anywhere near her neck and that world's you freezes up and does anythin' I ask. He's nuts over her."  
"And that almost got you killed." Fiona cut in again. She was feeling more confident now that Miles was there, and there was a bit of a distance between her and Scourge.  
"Not only that, Fiona, but it will get him killed when they catch up to us. And Scourge, before you recite that damn mantra again, this world is the same as theirs, they are all physically fit, we are going to a place they are familiar with in their world, we have spent a lot of time stationary, and we are merely walking. It is not a case of if they catch up, it is a case of when."

By now, they had reached the heart of the forest, and there, looming over them was a huge, grey-walled bastion. To Fiona, it looked a lot like the Castle Acorn she was familiar with, if it had been designed by a fantastical evil overlord. Massive walls with battlements lining the parapets, rows of spears sticking out at odd angles, and in the centre, a magnificent, yet foreboding black stone keep. Miles led them up to the door, and pushed it open, leading them through a maze of corridors. Every now and then, Fiona would see a face so familiar, yet so alien.

Eventually, they found themselves in front of a large oak door, and Miles stopped, turning around to face the two.

"I will tell Ally what has transpired. Anima watches us even now Scourge, so don't touch our guest."

With that, he walked through the door, and pushed it too behind him. Fiona stood there, trying to position her body in such a way that Scourge could not stare at her chest, yet she could still see him, but to no avail. She felt her eyes begin to water, as the full horror of the situation hit home. She was trapped, in another universe, one that ran parallel to her own, with a perverted man who possessed all of Sonic's speed and power, but none of his manners or virtues, constantly breathing down her neck.

Before Scourge could notice her tears, the door swung open, and Miles reappeared.

"The queen will see you now." He said. Fiona followed him into what must have been the throne room, Scourge visible in the corner of her eye as he did the same. The room was huge, with ornate weapons decorating the walls. At the end was a magnificent throne, and on it sat a squirrel, who, aside from a scar on her neck, was identical to Sally. The same soft, gentle features, the same inquisitive, raised eyebrow, the same long, red hair, and the same inviting blue eyes. She was clad in a tight, cobalt blue uniform of some descript, with white boots and gauntlets hiding her extremities, and a white cape over her shoulders. On her forehead was a silver, three-pronged tiara, with a purple, glowing gemstone at its base. One of her hands rested on the hilt of a sword, which was resting against the arm of the throne. The other was fiddling with a whip.

"Well, well, well. Look what my favourite advisor dragged in." Alicia chuckled, smirking.


	4. Chapter 4

"Either your stupidity has gone further than ever before, or I am having a nightmare." Alicia snapped, her eyes boring into Scourge's. "And you're forcing me to make decisions. Now I have to choose whether or not I have Anima kill you here and now." Her shoulders slumped, and she arched her back in the throne. "Don't talk, Scourge." Her eyes wavered from him, over to Anima.  
The computer's avatar had taken the form of a lynx for the purposes of this meeting, clad in a white silk dress that ran to her dark-furred feet, almost concealing them from view. Pale brown fur bristled as her queen addressed her, deep black hands brushing specks of dust from her dress before grey eyes snapped open, looking down at Scourge and his quarry.

"As you have mentioned, the hedgehog is expendable, my queen. He can be disposed of with little worry. The fox holds great intrinsic value if there are others searching for her, however. Her death would only incite those Miles mentioned to further violence. It is my analysis of the situation that she should not be terminated. Query?"  
"Go ahead." Alicia sat back again, flicking hair from her eyes.  
"I am detecting biological changes in you that suggest you have taken an interest in the fox. Is this correct?"  
"Yes…yes it is!" The queen exclaimed after a moment, throwing her head back and expelling a long, excited breath. "Alright Scourge, I've got an offer for you. You release the girl into my custody and I speak with her myself, then I let you make your case and you might get away from this with your life. This might actually turn out to my advantage." Her gaze shifted to Fiona, ignoring the look of alarm in Miles' eyes at her sudden change in mood. The vixen shifted uneasily under her stare, winding her tail around her body, but still stepped away from Scourge.

"It's not like I have a choice." Scourge groaned. "But if you take her, what's stoppin' Miles from just killin' me?"  
"Miles will be coming with me, half-wit. And Anima will not kill you unless I order it. This is the one chance you have to actually be heard, otherwise, I will have you killed, and I will just take her."  
"Fine, she's all yours. I can always get another one."

Alicia let out another sigh of exasperation, and stood up, attaching the whip to her belt, and taking hold of the sword, before beckoning to Fiona. Nervously, the vixen moved away from Scourge, and towards her second captor, unsure of whether she was stepping from the frying pan into the fire, or if Alicia actually held some respite for her. As she drew near, one of the squirrel's arms snaked around her shoulders, and she began to lead her through the corridors.

"Why did you let him live?" Miles asked, following them. "You said yourself that you could just kill him and be done with it."  
"True, but then the inevitable wrath of our little charge's friends would fall upon us, something that I am keen to avoid if possible. Now, don't worry…" She addressed the vixen under her arm. "You didn't come here with the best guide, but I assure you that I don't have plans like Scourge." Her tone softened, more conversational now the hedgehog wasn't within earshot. "I can't imagine he was particularly accepting with you not wanting to come. Well, until we sort all this out you can stay with us. Miles, can I count on you to keep Scourge away from her?"  
"Yes, my queen." The kitsune replied solemnly.  
"Good. Neither of us want a repeat performance."

"W-what do you mean?" Fiona stammered, still not quite sure about her new 'friends'.  
"Miles dear, would you?" Alicia smiled at him.  
"Here, there is an alternate version of everyone in your dimension, as you've likely worked out. There was one of you here, her name was Felicia. Scourge killed her. You see why we wanted to get you away from him."  
The vixen felt herself becoming teary-eyed at the thought, and the vivid memory of the knife at her throat was all-too recent for her. She could quite easily envision Scourge doing something like that. She let out a stifled sob, and nodded weakly, causing Alicia to pause, and wrap her other arm around Fiona as well.

"Sssshhhh..." She whispered. "We won't let it happen to you. That's a promise."  
"Th-thank you..." Fiona muttered  
"Think nothing of it, dear."

Alicia started walking again, taking Fiona and Miles into a small, cosy room, with several couches, and a roaring fire in the hearth. Miles' armour opened up, and he clambered out of it, revealing that he was actually clad in what amounted to a red, more masculine version of the uniform Alicia wore under her cape, and wasn't quite as tall. He flopped down on one of the couches with a heavy sigh, as Alicia and Fiona sat down on the one facing him. Fiona allowed herself to rest her head on Alicia's shoulder. True, she didn't really know enough about her to do such a thing, but currently, she was desperate, and Alicia was welcoming enough. The squirrel began to stroke Fiona's back in a placating manner with one hand, and gently dried her tears with the other.

"You're safe now, Miss..."  
"Fiona."  
"Ah, yes. You're safe with us, Fiona. Can you tell me how you ended up stuck with that waste of oxygen in the other room?"  
"O-okay..." Fiona whimpered. "But it's a fairly long story..."  
"I don't mind."

"Well, I'm a member of my world's Freedom Fighters. I joined them, and... after a while, I started to get attracted to our field commander, Sonic. Except... it wasn't Sonic. It was Scourge. He hadn't greened up yet, and he was able to pretend he was the real deal pretty easily. I was creeped out that he'd... he'd put the moves on me while pretending to be someone else, but... by then I'd opened up to him too much. See, I used to be a criminal- nothing too evil, just tomb robbing and participating in an underground arena thing, and when I decided to make something of my life, well, the others... they didn't trust me that much. But I'd told Scourge that, and I told him that they didn't trust me... and I pretty much handed him everything he needed to get inside my head. I was dating the real Sonic by now, but he kept showing up when I was alone, and talking to me. He kept going on about how great his life as a criminal was, and saying that he trusted me... he said all the right things, and well, he was actually pretty handsome before he got those scars, and he filed his teeth, and stopped taking breathmints. He got me to cheat on Sonic with him, and convinced me to run off with him... but one of the Freedom Fighters, Amy, caught me. Sonic found us and broke up the fight, but Scourge arrived, and then Tails did too. He attacked Scourge, and he... he told me the sort of things Scourge tended to do, and that... that I can't survive here, but... but Scourge put a knife to my throat, and dragged me back here!"

"I can confirm that." Miles muttered sourly. "He performed something similar when I appeared to them. I can't imagine that he would bother refining the process for myself."  
"Now that really is unfortunate…" Alicia clucked, gently stroking the vixen's shoulders. "This hasn't been such a problem before. Normally Scourge spends his time kidnapping our girls over here, romping round the bedroom a few times and then either kicking them out or disposing with them some other way. He hasn't gone this far before…"  
"Last time he was boasting that he literally fucked the last girl to death." Miles sighed despondently. "Both a realistically and theoretically impossible feat for someone whose interest is as fleeting as the life of a greenfly."

The prospect brought on a fresh shudder from Fiona, and Alicia quickly passed Miles a sharp glare. "Don't worry my dear, we won't let anything like that happen to you. Scourge won't get within ten feet of you and you could fit his prick in a pencil sharpener, so you really don't need to worry about that."  
"After what he did to Felicia you can believe that now he's let you out of his sight, his chances have now gone." In the flickering light of the fire, Miles' canines looked all the more frightening, but somehow...the way he said it, the context, made it feel somehow reassuring. He was willing to fight and if necessary kill scourge to defend her. It was a familiar feeling.

There was a soft tapping at the door. A moment later it half-opened and Anima stepped inside, one hand balancing a silver tray of drinks in one hand and a bottle-opener in the other.  
"Excellent timing." The queen smiled. "Wine, Fiona?"  
"Uh…" The fox hesitated.  
"Don't worry, there isn't anything wrong with it. Just red wine. If we wanted anything to happen to you don't you think we would have just left you with Scourge? Right now I just want you to relax and calm down. Once you're feeling a little better, we can decide what to do next."

Again Fiona hesitated, less so with the presence of her unspoken defender, then took one of the glasses, swirling the liquid experimentally within.  
"Nocturnus red." Their AI waitress informed them, "only the best."  
"I don't recall asking you to open those barrels…" The queen frowned, looking at Miles. The kitsune nodded his confirmation.  
"We haven't had a glass of Nocturnus red for some time. Don't worry; I left the oldest barrel sealed. I understand you want to save that for special occasions."

Alicia half-smiled at his consideration, for both her needs and Fiona's, and looked back to the other girl, who was testing the wine with short sips. "What do you think?"  
"A bit sweet." The vixen winced. "I'm not used to wine."  
"It's an acquired taste." Miles assured her. "Give it a little time." It was painfully evident in his tone and manner that he was still unsure how to act around her, how to treat her. Felicia's memory still haunted him painfully and he was determined to not have the event repeated, but he was not sure how he should treat Fiona.  
"You'll have all the time you need to peruse the wines we have and find one more to your taste." He added as an afterthought, guessing the mind of his queen. But something about the way he phrased it flagged up for Fiona, and she stopped drinking, looking between the three others present.  
"What do you mean?" She whispered in the silence.  
"Well, that you can stay of course." Alicia cooed in her ear. "Just because I put up with people like Scourge doesn't mean I'm a poor ruler – people like him are just for the purpose of cannon fodder. But I sympathise with your situation dear Fiona. You weren't given much trust by those 'friends' of yours to begin with, and when Scourge showed up he was like a convenient way to start a new life. Well, he brought you here with more unsavoury intentions, but Miles and I aren't like that."

"You can trust us." Miles elaborated, crossing to the fireplace and balancing his glass on the mantelpiece. "Our aims aren't to simply defile you like Scourge would have done."  
"You'll have a comfortable life here. You can stay with us in the castle. Fiona, you can trust us to be here for you, and we won't abandon you or let you down."  
"Why the sudden hospitality?"  
"Because you've told us your story and I can sympathise with it. You've had a lot on your plate and you really don't deserve it. From the looks of things you haven't actually done anything wrong. Not intentionally anyway. If you stay here you can be sure you'll be treated exactly as you deserve. You deserve a great deal more than you've been given so far. How does that sound?"

"I…I don't know." The vulpine girl sighed. "This isn't my world. I don't belong here. And…Tails said…he said I would die if I stayed here."  
"I'm a scientist and warrior both, Fiona." Miles interjected. "I know the science behind anarchy and chaos and I'm confident, with some testing and work, I could come up with a workable solution to stop the decay. I can keep you alive, and in good health as well. The science of it will not be a problem, provided you're willing to go through a couple of tests to see exactly what needs doing. Like a medical examination."

"I can't." Her voice shrank.  
"Wait, what?" Alicia was frankly stunned. She thought she had played her cards quite well.  
"I'm grateful for the hospitality, but I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Scourge. None of you would even know about my situation if he hadn't brought me here. I let that happen because I thought they didn't trust me. But someone showed me that I do matter. It's a nice offer, but I don't belong here, and I won't betray their trust again."

"Well-" The queen began, adjusting her crown as Anima interrupted.  
"Mistress. My scanners are detecting seven non-Moebian life forms in the forest. There is a ninety-seven percent chance they are the Mobian group known as the Freedom Fighters. Based on recent events, their goal will be to eliminate Scourge."  
Alicia let the words sink in for a moment, seeing how she could best manipulate this situation. Finally, she looked to Miles. "Looks like we were right, dear."  
"Your orders, my queen?" The male kitsune asked, dropping to one knee.  
"Give them what they want. If Scourge now thinks he can defy my orders, he is guilty of treason. He deserves no less than the death penalty."

Miles simply nodded in acknowledgement, stepping back into his armour. The plates folded back around him like clothing, and he left without a word. He went immediately to the throne room – for it intersected with the path he would take – and also to give a message to Scourge. Strangely enough, the hedgehog had waited the duration, though had taken the liberty of lounging in the throne.

"Whad'ya think? Suits me, don't it?" He guffawed as the kitsune entered, but eliciting no response. "Come on, no insult? Ya got nothing? New for ya."  
Miles stopped very abruptly halfway across the chamber, and tilted his head to Scourge. "The Freedom Fighters are here. Alicia wants you to deal with them. Get going. Now."  
"Aww…and here I was, thinkin' I had some time off. Well, I ain't gonna pass up a chance to kick the crap outta them a second time." Scourge vaulted from the throne, coming slowly down the steps and then picking up as he passed Miles, disappearing off a resounding cackle. The fox shook his head in dismay, and then continued.

* * *

"It's gonna take ages to find that sugah-fox in this place!" Bunnie groaned, "Trees, trees and more trees!"  
"Be glad we got here at all." Rotor offered in short reprimand. "The star posts are pretty old tech. We were going to get around to mothballing them soon."  
"Ah guess…" The rabbit sighed heavily. "It's just, ah knew this whole thang weren't gonna be a cakewalk, but we don't know where anythin' is on this planet!"  
"I know where one thing is." Tails growled. "I can hear him coming."  
"Me too." Sonic grinned readily. "You ready for round two, bud?"  
"Yes. And this time, I'm going to kill him."  
"Bud?"  
"Sonic, don't try and dissuade me from this. It's not just about revenge. Scourge is a bastard. He's a knife-thug who cheats, lies and kidnaps. Fiona probably isn't the first girl he's done this too, and this is my way of stopping it from ever happening. Let's face it – if we slap his wrists and tell him no, he'll give it about an hour then be right at it again."  
"Come on, you give me an hour?"

All seven heads turned and focussed on the hedgehog, now back to being a replica of Sonic with a jacket, relaxing idly in a tree above their heads.  
"I was being optimistic." Tails snarled at him, baring his teeth. "Come and fight me, you coward."

"Hey, _I'm_ not the coward." Scourge retaliated, his tone conversational as he swung over the edge of the branch and dropped to the forest floor, landing on one knee in front of the group. "You're the coward. You didn't have the balls to try and kill me while I was holding your eye-candy. I mean seriously? Is she worth that much to you? Busty vixens are a dime a dozen. Take one of ours, no-one would notice."

There were over half a dozen mouths ready with rebuttals to the statement, but all were sharply cut off by a fizzing noise and then a high-pitched whistle, a flash of light a moment later heralding Miles' appearance, his armoured silhouette visible against the light. It faded away rapidly, revealing the kitsune's hands both tightly gripping a blade that travelled from his shoulders to the ground.

"Hey, queenie send you to take out the trash too?" He laughed, glancing behind him at the armoured warrior."  
"In a manner of speaking."  
That was answer enough, for Scourge. He turned back to the Freedom Fighters and opened his mouth to further taunt them, and choked on his words. His body froze in shock, not comprehending what had happened. No-one moved, no-one spoke, and the hedgehog finally mustered the strength to tilt his head down, and to see the ornate carving of Miles' blade protruding from his stomach, coated with red. His blood.  
"W-w-h-" He spluttered, blood starting to fill his lungs.

"Why?" Miles asked for him. "You've had this coming for a long time, Scourge." He twisted the blade and the hedgehog grunted in pain, then crumpled to the floor as he jerked it sharply from him. He was dead before he hit the floor, his lifeblood and organs steaming against the ground.  
The kitsune looked down at the body coldly for a moment. "Her debt is repaid." Then his gaze rose to the Freedom Fighters. "I apologise for not letting you have the pleasure, but he was unreliable. There is a job to complete here, and let's face it, would you trust him with anything?"

"Where. Is. Fiona?" Tails couldn't care less. He was happy that Scourge was dead, to be sure, but it wasn't why he had come. Her words had snapped him out of his darkness, and while killing Scourge had too been his objective, Fiona was his priority. They all understood that, and they were there for the same reason…all of them except Amy. She still hadn't entirely processed the idea that she wasn't exactly evil, but she was willing to follow the others' judgement.

"At the castle." It was between Tails and Miles now, and the others remained silent.  
"Take me to her."  
"I can't do that. She belongs to Alicia now, and I won't defy my queen's orders."  
"What do you mean…_belongs?_" Tails' patience was waning, and his rage was becoming harder and harder to control.  
"On this planet, Fiona Fox doesn't exist. Never did. She isn't a Moebian, she has no rights. She's not even technically a person here. Just be glad that she'll treat her well. If she'd been left with Scourge I couldn't even vouch for her life." He gripped the blade in both hands, bending his legs slightly and twisting the hilt to his head in a defensive stance. "But she's with Alicia right now, and she's told me that she's staying. So, I hope you understand…but I can't let you pass."


	5. Chapter 5

"Get outta the way before I make you." Sonic snapped, taking a step towards the armoured Moebian. "Fiona's coming back with us. Either you let her go, or I stomp you into the ground and we take her back ourselves. What's it gonna be?"  
"You're welcome to try, hedgehog. You outnumber me, but you're still outmatched." Miles didn't move, a feral grin crossing his features.  
Tails stepped up beside his friend. "We came to kill Scourge and take back Fiona, but you're getting in our way. Move and no-one else will be hurt." His hand came up a few inches and snapped open, revealing the pale green orb of chaos energy resting there.  
"Then you'd better make that shot count, brother. You won't get a second try."

"Your funeral." Tails sighed, and lobbed the chaos spear towards Miles. For a moment, no-one moved, as the spear lengthened and flared with power, crossing the distance between the Freedom Fighters and the armoured kitsune.  
Then he surged into motion, breaking into a run and slashing the blade across in front of him in a vertical slice, meeting the chaos spear edge-on. There was a bright flash and the spear exploded against the dark metal, and Miles disappeared into the blazing light...and charged out of the other side, the blade completing the arc, twisting and coming back across in a reverse stroke, stopping dead against Tails' namesakes, brought up in an instinctive reaction.  
But even they weren't foolproof. He felt his own defences wavering unexpectedly and jumped, planting both feet against Miles' chest plate and kicking off, placing a few feet between the two of them.  
"Morganite." Tails spat. "Nice touch." He could almost laugh. So close; he wouldn't be stopped now.  
"I thought you might like it. Want to try again?"  
"I don't exactly have a choice, do I?"  
"Well, you could always just turn around and give up your futile quest."  
"We both know that I'm not going to do that."  
"In that case, en guarde, brother."

"Hang on." Sally cut in. "We can handle this fight. Tails, go and rescue Fiona."  
"You sure? He's not Scourge." Tails shook his head. Fiona was important, but he couldn't let his friends get hurt for him.  
"Just go. There's six of us and one of him. We can handle this."  
"Just don't get anyone killed." He sighed, taking to the sky with a quick jump, his namesakes taking over and lifting him higher. "Oh, almost forgot." He whispered to himself, stretching his hand outwards to the ground below him. As if reacting to his presence and need, the synthetics laying discarded by Scourge lighting up brightly and lifting from the ground, taking off towards him, honing in and disappearing into him. He was prepared.

In reaction to this, Miles rolled his eyes, and jumped upwards. As he did so, a pair of rocket engines on the backs of his legs activated, and began to carry him after his counterpart. Unfortunately for him, something slammed heavily into his back, and sent him spinning into the dirt. Instinctively, he killed the engines, before standing up, to see Sonic landing in front of him.

"Look, I'd love to stay and grind all of your heads into the forest floor, but frankly, this battle just became not only time-consuming, but also senseless." The fox said, brushing himself off. "If you're lucky, you might see my brother again. If not, my apologies in advance."

Miles' body began to glow, but Sonic rushed forward, and knocked him down again. As he tried to stand, he was hit by a blast of energy, not Chaos, but something else, and then something heavy and blunt thudded against his chest-plate, sending him flying into a tree.

"It would appear that you are as stubborn as he is... I will have to enlighten you on the futility of this situation. I have spent my life among your counterparts, I know exactly how you fight. Sonic, you are reliant on your powers to deal any damage. Princess, while you don't use your sword as much as Alicia, nor do you use a whip at all, but I know that you have spent a lot of time cooped up in your palace, unable to keep yourself as finely-honed as your friends. Rabbot, your cannon might not use Chaos Energy, but it is still an energy weapon, and so my blade still nullifies it. D'Coolette, I have had as much training with sword as to defeat your counterpart in single combat, you stand no chance. Walrus, you rely and your muscle mass and weight to do damage. I am too agile, and, as will also apply to Miss Rose, my armour renders blunt force ineffective."

"Sorry pal, but you can't deflect anything you can't see coming." Sonic grinned. "And you've only got two eyes, for six of us."  
Miles brought himself slowly to his feet, his neck clicking painfully. "Well well, I'll give you that; good hit, you might have chipped my collarbone. Now, I do apologise for my brother's sake, but this is going to hurt." And he charged again, the sword trailing behind him, still gripped but almost as if forgotten.  
Sonic disappeared in a blur, Sally and Bunnie moving to fill the gap, Antoine and Amy flanking him on either side. Rotor moved up behind the two ladies, to provide support as needed, support that looked all-too necessary as Miles closed the gap.

An instant before they clashed he stopped on one foot, his continued momentum pivoting on the spot. The sword lashed out as he turned, drawing a thin shower of sparks his blade met Antoine's, the force of impact shoving the veteran swordsman back as Miles completed the turn. He locked blades with Sally, staring into her eyes over the struggle between them. Bunnie stepped into help, her augmented strength in her metal arm more than a match for his own muscle. Manipulating his own tails masterfully they twisted around his side, meeting her outstretched fist with a heavy thump, anarchy-hardened appendages vying for control against a mechanical one.

Without turning to look he lifted one leg, kicking it backwards and firing the jet housed there. A plume of blue fire jetted out, shoving him forward past the two girls, the fire lashing across Sonic's face and sending him staggering sideways past his comrades. Rotor barred his path and met his charge with force, blunt and brutal. The force of the impact flagged up several stress fractures within Miles' armour, and left the unfortunate kitsune in a bear-hug.  
Until a foot-long shard of concentrated anarchy energy burst from his armour and through Rotor's arm. The walrus growled in pain and released Miles, clamping his good paw over the wound, trying to stem the flow.

"No, I can't see where you all are, Sonic. That's what proximity detectors are for." Miles snarled as the hedgehog finally recovered from the burn, an angry red mark across his face marking where the flames had scorched the skin. "You can't win." He added, pivoting almost lazily and clashing blades with Antoine once again. They came apart and struck again, Miles leading with long, driving slashes, sidestepping Antoine's fencing thrusts. He had to admit, Antoine was fast, but against someone wearing a suit that enhanced his own reflexes, that amounted to very little.  
Moments later the coyote overstretched himself and lunged a little too far, and a swift riposte from the kitsune seared a line of blood across the back of his sword hand. Antoine swore expertly and released the blade, and Miles kicked it from the ground into his own hand before smacking the back of his foe's cranium with the pommel of his own blade. The impact would not kill him, but it stunned him enough to put him out of the fight.

His proximity alarm whistled again and he threw the morganite up to parry Sally's strike as she came in to protect Antoine, and he simply kept his blade moving, up and to the side, placing her blade out of the way for him to crack his gauntlet against her temples, dazing her and leaving her head ringing with pain, her likeness to Alicia having saved her life at that moment.  
The only one he hadn't fought was…_Amy._  
That moment of prescience game him enough time to roll aside as the hammer slammed into the ground, a low-skill but powerful weapon that could potentially cause severe damage to his armour. Thankfully, he reminded himself, that the wielder only possessed just about enough skill to use it with any sort of effectiveness.

Before the hedgehog-girl could lift the cumbersome weapon again he spun round the giant head and brought his foot down on the handle, his additional weight giving her no power with the weapon. Seconds later his arm came round her neck and lifted her off the ground, the morganite blade pressed to her throat.  
"Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but you don't sacrifice your team members, correct?" Miles grinned, baring his fangs at the terrified girl he held. "I must admit, this little tarry has been enjoyable, but I have engagements elsewhere, so I must excuse myself. I apologise, I really do."  
The jets on his legs fired, lifting him into the air above the group, and then he dropped Amy to the ground gracelessly. "I suggest you tend to those two." He muttered, gesturing to the dazed Sally and Antoine. "The squirrel will live, though that headache will stay for some time, but I may have dislocated some of the coyote's vertebrae."

With that, Miles vanished in a flash of purple, as Sonic ran over to his injured friends.  
"Okay, I'm not too skilled with Chaos Heal... but I can manage these." He said. "Hang on, Sal, Ant." He said, cerulean fire surrounding his hands. He placed them over the injured areas, and, after a few seconds, stopped, the bruises fading away. That done, he picked Sally up, and Bunnie did the same with Antoine.

"I see that what Tails said about you still pining was true." Amy mused, rubbing her throat.  
"A little, but first, we should focus on catching up with Tails, before Miles can do that to him as well."  
"Yeah, that li'l varmint packed a punch. Hopefully he won't be so lucky against his own moves."  
"Tails doesn't have a sword. Rotor pointed out, pulling out a needle, and sticking it into his injured arm. A few seconds later, the flesh around his wound began to knit back together. "And even if he did, he doesn't have any experience using one in actual combat. He's a quick learner, but Miles is playing for keeps, literally."  
"True." Amy said. "And if Tails is this determined to rescue Fiona, he'll get himself killed before he gives up."  
"Which is exactly why we have to go." Sonic said, as they began to move in the direction they had seen Miles go. "By the way, Rote, what was in that syringe?"  
"Nanites taken from the Nanite City that ADAM created. We've been doing experiments on them, since they were so useful for him." 

* * *

"Comfy?" Alicia whispered into Fiona's ear. They were now back in the throne room, and Fiona's clothes had been replaced- she was now clad in a dress that looked a lot like one of Anima's, but it was shorter, and her boots had been replaced with white pumps. Apparently, the change was because her other clothes were sweaty, since she had been 'so stressed out by Scourge.' For some reason, she didn't quite believe that.

"Yeah." She nodded. She had to admit to herself that the dress was very soft, and the shoes weren't as hot as her boots were.  
"Good."  
"Where did Miles go? Shouldn't he have been back by now?"  
"I should imagine that he took the opportunity to kill Scourge. More wine?"  
"No thanks. I shouldn't really be drinking yet."  
"I'm queen, and I say you can drink what you like, no matter the age."  
"Still, I've had alcohol before, and I can't really hold my drink at all. If I have another glass, it won't do me any good."  
"Suit yourself." Alicia shrugged, and began to gently stroke her back.

However, soon, the sounds of battle began to echo through the corridors, and the doors exploded inwards, ripped off their hinges. Two Moebian guards came flying through the open entrance, and crashed to the ground near the throne, unconscious. Then he appeared, floating through the gap, crimson flames blazing around his body. He walked unflinchingly towards both girls, allowing his aura to fade once he realised that there were no more guards inside the throne room. Fiona smiled slightly, but felt Alicia tense up, and saw her reach towards her black-bladed sword.

"Hold on." Tails said. "I don't want to fight you."  
"So you made a mess of my castle, blew up my doors and flattened my guards because...?"  
"Let me finish." His voice was sharper, firmer this time. "I'm tired of all this bloodshed. I just came for Fiona. To take her home."  
"I'm afraid that won't be happening." Alicia said. Fiona's eyes widened slightly, and she looked up at the queen. "Maybe Miles didn't tell you this, but here, Fiona Fox does not exist. No birth certificate, no records, nothing. She's just lucky that she fell into the lap of someone who will take care of her. We will keep her safe, we will trust her, more than your little team will, and maybe we'll let you visit from time to time, but she is staying with me."  
"I think you misheard me." Tails growled, the aura reappearing. "I said I didn't _want_ to fight you, not that I _wouldn't_. Furthermore, you surprised her when you said that. Fiona, what do you want?"  
"I... I-I w-want to... to..."

Fiona was cut off by the sound of Miles warping in, a pair of blades in his outstretched hands, standing between Tails and the throne. She gasped, as he stood up to his full height, and looked over his shoulder. Alicia gave him a reassuring nod and a smile, and he turned back to face Tails.

"How did you beat all of the others?" Tails demanded.  
"I didn't. I knocked out Alicia and Patch's counterparts, and may have damaged the hand of Boomer's, but they'll live. However, I had to teleport back here, or you would have gotten too far. Here, take this." Miles explained, throwing the sword into the ground at Tails' feet. "There's no satisfaction in defeating or killing you on an uneven standing."  
"You didn't offer the same to Scourge, you just stabbed him in the back."

Miles laughed.

"The difference there, brother, is that you are a worthy opponent. Scourge was a worthless peon, a hateful, pathetic excuse for a life form. That was not the slaying of a worthy for. That was a mercy killing of a sick feral."  
"So your idea of a fair battle with a worthy opponent is a form of combat that said opponent has no experience with, with a weapon he has no defence against, while you wear power armour and he doesn't?" Tails prodded, picking up the sword, testing it in one hand. It was familiar.

"I've deactivated all of this suit's systems aside from the ones that allow me to move while wearing it. No motion sensors or strength enhancers. And besides, if you're playing hero, then I get to play villain a little."  
"Taking hostages, hurting two of my teammates and wounding a third, and stealing. You're already playing the villain suitably well without lying."  
"Would you prefer the same treatment as Scourge? This is the fairest you will get." Miles growled – he was growing tired of this jibing.

"Then I guess I'll take my chances." Tails snapped out, stepping forward and breaking the impasse. His namesakes spun and he charged, swinging the blade up, over his head, and down towards the Moebian kitsune. There was little to no method in his attack, simply striking with brute force and hoping to pick up a few tricks along the way.  
Miles didn't even tense as he reacted, flicking his own blade up. He knew the strength behind the attack and made no attempt to parry, rather as he felt the keening whistle of metal on metal he sidestepped, twisting the morganite blade in the opposite direction.

It did what he wanted. Tails, still adapting to his new body and a blade he had never used, stumbled to the side as his own momentum and the offset from being pushed away caught up with him.  
Tails was no master of blades, but his skill in hand-to-hand combat saved him, battle-honed instinct spinning him on his heels the moment he passed Miles, his blade clashing loudly with that of his opponent, who had gone on the offensive. Swift jabs and cuts followed, Tails' skin spared only by supernatural reflexes and more than a little effort.

A thin, brief smirk passed the kitsune's lips as he saw his first advantage just a moment later. A barely-noticeable line of sweat cresting Miles' brow. He was tired, or at least a little fatigued. True to his word he had disengaged the suit's extra functions, but he had only moments ago fought the Freedom Fighters, and despite his continued use of the suit's servos to move, it still weighed upon him – gravity still took its toll. Tails was out of his comfort zone, but he was unencumbered and had been relying on his chaos powers to get him through the palace, so was relatively fresh.

Eventually through this seemingly-endless tirade of blows they came to a halt, blades locked and twisting, the two watching the eyes of the other, seeing who would break first.  
Tails faltered first, apparently, twisting sideways in what appeared to be an attempt to break off from the contest of strengths, and Miles followed after him…and collapsed on the floor. He searched for a moment and found the culprit – a jagged spike of chaos energy jammed into the ground inches from his foot. He almost laughed at the irony, pulling himself to his feet.

"You've forgotten one thing about me, Miles." Tails taunted his foe from the relative safety of a few feet away.  
"And what is that?"  
"Before we came to Moebius, I ripped the chaos energy out of Scourge, and was set to torture him brutally to death. I have to admit, I was enjoying it, and I know you would have too. We're the same, as you well know, so if you're going to play the villain, don't expect me to play fair as well. I'm all for law and order, but I don't always play by the rules." Then he disappeared.

Miles felt a flicker in his stomach, the inkling of an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time. _Was Tails playing with him?_  
Instinct took over and spun him, cutting the morganite sword out in a lethal arc, bisecting the shimmering chaos doppelganger in half, the image exploding as if built of glass fragments. _A trick._ An illusion, to set him on edge. To get him jumping at shadows…where was he…

"Miles!" Alicia's cry of warning to him, her attempt at aiding him in this already unfair battle, came a split second too late. He saw her eyes widen and begun to turn, but without the reflex booster active in his suit he moved just a little too slowly and white light and pain suddenly fogged his vision, the nerves of his arm on fire with agony. The lower half of his arm went numb, and he heard something splash onto the ground through the sudden pain fogging his vision.

"No…" He snarled, realising his error. He saw his mistake. He'd underestimated his opponent.  
Now he didn't have an arm.


	6. Chapter 6

"Give up now, Miles." Tails growled at his foe, as blood spurted from Miles' truncated arm.  
"No, he won't." Alicia snapped, before Miles could respond. "He has his orders. And he will carry them out. Won't you, Miles?" Her gaze turned from Tails to rest upon her champion and advisor.  
"Yes...my queen." Came the curt, pained reply through blooded teeth, and Miles clamped his free hand over the wound, stemming the flow of blood as he wheeled to face his foe again. "I will repair any damages." And he closed his eyes.

From Miles' chest a single gem emerged, and then multiplied into seven, spreading round him in a ring. For a moment they floated there, then slammed inwards towards him with the sound of crunching bone. Tails watched for a moment, not comprehending, then understood, and darted forward, seeking to bury his blade in Miles' chest before he could finish.

Miles eyes lit up and his fur burned, snapping to and fro as if caught within an inferno, the bright yellow sheen evaporating and a dull grey appearing in its stead. Then it all stopped. All was silent again, and Miles opened his eyes. Two black orbs stared back at Tails, a blazing purple light at the centre of each one. Inches from impact, he reacted to the charge. One of his tails snapped around and with a spiteful crack met one of Tails' own. His chaos shield held, but his own strength did not – Tails had reacted on instinct and with his own natural chaos power; Miles had the strength of a super form behind him, and the pure force of the blow knocked Tails back from him, the Mobian fox landing awkwardly and stumbling backwards a couple of steps, almost to the chamber doors.

"Good, now let's deal with this." Miles lowered his bloodied glove from what remained of his right arm as a pencil-thin stick of white bone slid from within the wound, growing over itself splinter by splinter like some cancerous growth taking over. Veins and arteries followed like vines, forming an intricate latticework spreading over the white scaffolding. Some grew out and merged with thick muscle growth appearing through the gaping wound, while others pursued the bone as it formed the hand, holding each little segment together in a quivering, wet mass.

As the muscle formed over Miles' wrist and hand he flexed it experimentally, wincing as wet muscle steamed in the air and pain rung from exposed nerve endings. Tails attacked again as the skin began to roll back down the arm, tossing the blade with one hand, spinning it through the air like an imbalanced throwing knife, once again aiming for his damaged arm in an attempt to hold it back, to provide him with a weak spot.  
Miles' hand moved in a blur, catching it between his good thumb and forefinger with an almost lazy catch. "Really, you'll have to try better." Fur followed the skin, sprouting and growing to its full length in seconds, the same grey as the rest of him, and he closed his hand, warping the metal round his fingers. It twisted for a moment, and then snapped. As the metal shards clattered to the stone floor, the final tufts of deep grey grew into being with a flourish, his gloveless hand revealing claws made of blackened bone.

"What my queen demands, I carry out. She lays her claim to someone who is no being in our world, who does not exist, whose physiology is incomparable to any other on this planet. She orders me to protect it, and so her will is done." He moved. A blur. Tails felt, more than saw his approach, and anger lit within him.  
"And it was Fiona's will to stay, before she was taken. It was Moebius that broke her resolve. It was your lies that hurt her. **You are the reason for her pain"** Miles struck him in that instant, slamming into him faster than the eye could see. As he made impact, black fire erupted in a thundering explosion around him, blasting out and settling on the floor and columns like strips of enflamed cloth.

Miles had struck something other than Tails. A black, seething barrier separated the two of them now, rage purified and given solidity.  
**"I will undo my mistake!"** A voice from beyond the barrier roared, and colossal force struck Miles' forehead. A force that made his assault waver. **"I will undo yours!"** A second force, more powerful than the first, struck his chest and forced him away.  
As his hands left the barrier it flickered and faded. Now he saw. It was still Tails. His fur the colour of charred flesh and his eyes bloody red, and though there were no pupils, through some gut feeling he felt them settle on him.

**"I was hoping not to kill anyone else. I wanted no further bloodshed. The guards were enough. Scourge was enough. His death was all I needed. If he had simply left, if he had not returned and taken her, I would have lived without his death. He stole her, and now you keep her like a possession, like a pet. You take her free will from her. You condemn her to a life of constant pain. Of reliance on you to simply allow her to live for the next few weeks."** He raised his hands out to his sides. **"You have taken all of this from her. I will take it back."**

One moment he was there. The next, only inches separated him and Miles, his hand wrapped around the Moebian's throat. **"You are in my way."**  
"And you're in mine." Through the rage in Tails' voice he spoke calmly, betraying nothing. One hand rose slowly to clamp round Tails' wrist. "Your strength is formidable. Your skill is not." His other hand smashed against Tails' shoulder as his first tightened around the one gripping his neck. His strike threw him slightly, and then the sudden pressure opened his hand just slightly, and that was enough for him to be free.

He shifted away, hand outstretched and darting towards the Morganite blade still clutched in the fingers of his dismembered limb.  
Pain burnt into his back, Tails moving more swiftly than he could and his claws raking across Miles' back, digging into the armour – useless now – and his fur, catching him and throwing him away, further from his target. Now the dark boiling range stood between him and a weapon that would surely end this.  
"I obey my queen by choice. I destroy you by her command." He lashed out again, throwing his hand out wide. From his palm came a stream of red needles, filling the air between the two combatants. They split and shattered against a burning shield, and that shield became a ball, then a spear, returning the distance only to reduce a column to rubble as Miles shifted around the attack.

They both charged and came together again, hands locking, sparks and fire flashing between them as energy was spent fruitlessly against the shield of the other. Both were strong, both had unimaginable power flowing within them and so much was spent within seconds that both as they had been would have been reduced to ash.

**"I fight now not for me, or for your pain. I fight so that she will not feel it."** He lunged suddenly, cracking his forehead against Miles' nose. There was a sickening crunch as rage and chaos overcame chaos invulnerability and a spurt of bright fluorescent blood spurted from the damage.  
**"I fight and I will feel pain. I will go through hell and smile so that she can be happy!"** He smashed his forehead into Miles' face again, the bones crunching further and finally eliciting a growl of pain from the other.

Their tails clashed, charcoal black and muted grey striking off each other over and over. Their power was equal. Miles had the home ground. Tails' strength was fuelled by rage. Miles fought because the queen said it should be so. Tails fought because he had made himself a promise, he had made an unspoken promise to his friends and Fiona. He fought because he could not bear to let go a second time.  
**"This is why I fight!** He drove his forehead against Miles for a third time, this time striking his opponent's forehead too. He puts his strength into the blow, his rage and pain, his wrongs and his loss. For a moment, he was a weapon, bright and vibrant.

Within Miles, his power flared, burnt out and died in the face of the power unleashed. His super form was strong, and a match for Tails even as the latter resided in the darkness. But his conviction was not the same. He had seen what had been done to Felicia, and though the one who had killed her was now beginning to decompose, he still carried with him the memory of what had been done, and now he could not forget. It was burned into him, and part of him indeed had wanted Tails to succeed.

The energy of the Anarchy Beryls faltered within him, their power and his splitting and disintegrating. The beryls flew from him, the colour returning to his fur and the darkness in his eyes draining to its true colour. As the seventh fell from him, Tails caught it in his outstretched hand. With what remained of his rage he tightened his grip, tighter, and tighter, and it shattered in his palm.

As Tails returned to himself, the emeralds remained within him and he turned away from Miles for a moment, and stooped to retrieve his fallen blade. Antoine's weapon was useless now, but the Morganite blade was still intact, and he held it to the Moebian's throat.  
"I will only ask you once, Miles. Do you yield?"  
He met Tails' gaze unflinchingly, but without the fight they had held before. Then his eyes drifted to his side, to Alicia. "My queen, the fight is his. He will either kill me, and then anyone else who stands in his way, or he will leave with the girl. If you would have me still not submit, then I can't vouch for your life, or anyone else's."

Alicia looked from the two male foxes to the vixen who rested on her knee, and nodded, releasing her grip on the brunette. She had hoped to keep them both, but she knew Miles and he had told her what Fiona would be put through to survive. She would rather she let one go so that they would both survive. She was true to her word – she wasn't heartless.

"Alright. You can go." She said. Fiona stood up, made her way down the steps in front of the throne, and over to Tails' side. He clasped her wrist, and backed away towards the doorway, still pointing the blade at them.  
"I'll be keeping this. Antoine will need a replacement, and honestly, I don't trust you to not stab me in the back." Tails stated, raising the sword slightly to indicate what it was he was talking about.  
"Whatever." Miles groaned, climbing unsteadily to his feet as Alicia stood up and moved over to his side, and Tails and Fiona turned and headed out of the room.

Tails hesitated. "I take it that you do want to come home?"  
"Yeah, if you could call it that now. The others aren't going to be happy to see me. Not after Amy went to rile them up."  
"We all came to rescue you."  
"Rescue or arrest?"  
"_Rescue._" Tails repeated. "I convinced them to help you."  
"How did you manage that?"

"Because I think I understand what was going on with you. First off, Scourge was a good liar. It was about the only thing he could really do, but it was something he was damn good at doing. He had no trouble convincing myself – though I loathe admitting it – or Sally or anyone that he was the real Sonic. You haven't known Sonic for as long as we have, so it would have been easier for him to use that to worm his way into your trust, and then start filling your head with more lies once you were listening to him. Then it would have become a task of playing on your weaknesses, like your past, which would have made it even easier. You had just the right kind of harsh life to make you vulnerable to his manipulations. On top of that, yes we're your friends, but… we haven't been as supportive as we should have, and while you were with Sonic, he was clearly still pining for Sally, and not fully invested in your relationship. Finally, we have the fact that you decided to stay the moment you learned that it was all a huge farce and Scourge was a monster. There's a lot of emotion, deceit, trust and betrayal involved, but it can be understood like anything else."  
"Oh, thank you."  
"Come on; let's go get your clothes."  
"No, I have other bodysuits. We need to get out of here before Miles recovers or Alicia sends anyone else after us. I don't know how super forms work, but you must be tired."  
"If you say so." Tails shrugged, then stumbled. He staggered to the wall and slumped against it, his breathing suddenly laboured.  
"Tails!"  
"I'm… I'm okay… just tired. It happens after I use the synthetic Emeralds. Guess the adrenaline rush just wore off. I just need a little time."

Fiona walked around, stooped low, moving between Tails and the wall, and placed her shoulders under his outstretched arm. Then she reached out, and took the blade, curling her free arm around his midriff.  
"Thanks."  
"You're welcome. Now let's go."

Finding the other Freedom Fighters didn't take long. They were in a corridor, surrounded by unconscious guards. Sally had regained consciousness, and was leaning against Sonic as she rapidly tapped buttons and keys on the handheld which contained Nicole. Antoine was still mostly out of it, and Bunnie still held him in her arms. Rotor was the first to notice the two foxes approaching.

"Guys, look." He said. Four heads lifted up, and the group finally reunited.  
"Tails, what happened?" Sonic asked.  
"I managed to beat Miles. I ended up using the Emeralds again. It took a lot out of me, but I'm alright. Just tired. He could have beaten me, if he had just stuck with the swords."  
"That's good." Bunnie smiled, relieved.  
"Yeah, but we have to get out of here before Alicia sends more people after us." Fiona said. "She seems quite attached to me. I don't think I like it."  
"Then let's move out." Sally commanded.

The walk back to the portal was mostly conducted in silence. Sally moved away from Sonic, to the head of the pack, occasionally giving a direction as they made their way back through the forest, while the hedgehog brought up the rear, keeping watch for any pursuers. At one point, Amy suggested that someone else support Tails, but he silenced her with a glare. Fiona ignored this, and kept walking, her eyes repeatedly drawn to Tails' new body, only for her to realise what she was doing and look away with a blush. The weight on her shoulders seemed to be decreasing, and she looked over at the male fox, who gave her a reassuring smile. Eventually, the portal appeared through the trees.

Stepping through it was a lot like blood rushing to the brain - sudden and disorienting, but passing quickly, and the Freedom Fighters were back in the basement of Freedom HQ. Tails stood up by himself, and drew in Chaos energy from the air around him, glowing as he revitalised himself, illuminating the room, as Sonic zipped over to the light switch, and flicked it.

"That's better." Sally said. "Now, Fiona. We need to talk."  
"Okay…"  
"First, I'm going to assume Tails' appraisal about your situation was correct?"  
"Yes. It was really accurate. He has a future in psychology."  
"Heh. Well, on account of that, combined with the work you've done for us - I daresay that without your services, several of us, myself included, would not be standing here today - and the fact that you are clearly very important to several of us, I want to forgive you. The problem I have is that while a lack of trust caused you to align yourself with Scourge, however briefly, doing so does not paint an image of you as a trustworthy person. " Sally sighed, rubbing her temples.  
"I… I understand…" Fiona glanced away. She had been awaiting this, but that preparation made her no readier for the rebuttal.

"If I may interject." Tails spoke up. "I'd like to point out that Fiona carried me back from the castle on Moebius after the energy drain caught up with me, carrying a weapon that could have killed me no matter how many Emeralds I had to protect me. She could easily have killed me, but she chose to help me instead."  
"Good point." Sally nodded. "I believe that all you want is to be accepted, correct?"  
"Yes. Well, that and a second chance."  
"Of course. And you regret the interactions you had with Scourge?"  
"Yes, of course I do! I wish I'd never even met him."  
"Then I look at it like this. You regret your actions, you are an invaluable member of our team, both in terms of contribution and personal attachments, and you didn't actually do anything against the team as a whole. What you did will have to be discussed with Sonic, but 'betraying' an already failing relationship is hardly grounds to punish you. Added up, I'm going to forgive you. I want you to report to my office tomorrow, so we can get a better understanding of one another, and so that you won't feel isolated again."  
"R-really? Thank you!"

"Now, we have a small problem…" Sally sighed once again. "Even if I'm willing to simply let this slide, the fact remains that you have gone against a princess of crown, an act of treason, that still carries a death penalty that we haven't yet had the time to change." She paused a moment, and relief in their faces turned to shock, but Sally remained calm. "No – let me finish. The only ones who know the real extent of what has happened are in this room, and even those opinions are somewhat controversial…" She glanced for a moment at Amy. "So, for the sake of no more loss of life, I think we are all prepared to conveniently forget this has ever happened."  
"You can do that?"  
"Do what?" Sally arched an eyebrow at her, then winked. "Now, there's something you have to sort out for yourself. I believe you and Sonic both know what this is about."

Sally turned, and led the other Freedom Fighters up the stairs. Tails cast Fiona a look, but she nodded and smiled softly, a signal she could handle this alone. Reassured, he followed the others, leaving only the kitsune girl and the hedgehog in the room. The two avoided one-another's gaze for a moment, awkwardly looking at anything but the other.

"Some really fascinating marks on the wall, here." Sonic said after a moment. Fiona giggled, and looked up. The ice broken, things didn't seem to awkward now.  
"You know, I think that's why I liked you in the first place. Things didn't always seem so tense with you."  
"Yea, well…I kinda too that took far, didn't I? I don't ever really stop and look back on my mistakes and normally I'm not the sort of guy to admit that either…until now. Scourge showed up, but he actually paid attention to you that I was meant to be giving you, while we were together. Things were bound to get screwed up."  
"So… you're not mad?"  
"I'm not mad. I mean, you're a nice girl, Fi, and you really thought you were in the right. I wasn't doing my part of the relationship properly and that's what let Scourge in, because…well…"  
"Because I'm not Sally?"  
"Well, kinda…"  
"It's okay." The vixen smiled shyly at Sonic's floundering. "We can't help who we love." She hesitated for a moment, then held out her hand. "Still friends?"  
Sonic looked at her, then down at her hand, then took it in a firm, solid grip, a familiar, reassuring smirk crossing his face. "You know, after all this, all the shit I put you through, I should be asking that. But you've got a deal…just do me a favour. Talk to Tails, I mean really talk to him. I'm a waste of time if you want to talk about sciency-stuff, but I can see Tails needs you more than he's letting on. I'd wager he'd do more for you than I ever did.  
"I will…" Fiona nodded, blushing. "But you have to talk to Sally. Work this whole thing out with her. She and I have got our similarities, but you won't find another one of her, not even on that other planet."  
"Will do, Fi. Catch you later?"  
"Sure thing." She let her hand drop. "Friends stay in touch, isn't that right?"  
"You got it." He chuckled, the classic proud, headstrong and cocksure Sonic showing through. "Great. Well, gotta speed."

With that, Sonic was gone in a flash of blue and a strong tailwind. Fiona watched the blur fade, sighed, and made her own way up the stairs. The pumps she had been given had a slightly steeper heel than she was used to, which made the steps slightly harder to negotiate, but she made it to the top. Finding Tails lining against the wall wasn't a huge surprise, but it was still nice to see.

"How did everything go?" He asked.  
"We're gonna stay friends, but we aren't together anymore. He's going to talk things over with Sally, and he said I had to talk to you."  
"About what?"

"I guess about how things are between us now." Fiona shrugged, a blush staining her cheeks. "You saved me twice today. Even after everything, and with the possibility that I really was going to go with Scourge for real, you convinced me not to go. You fought to protect me. You wouldn't risk anything when he had me at knife-point. You convinced everyone that I was still a good person and went all the way to Moebius to fetch me back. You stormed into a castle filled with psycho versions of our friends alone, fought off a guy in power armour using a form of combat you have no experience with, and beat him on his own turf… just so that I could be safe and happy. No one's ever done anything that… amazing for me before. Thank you, thank you so much."

"You're welcome." Tails replied, as Fiona approached him. Then he frowned, realising he'd sort of missed her point.  
"You've been so sweet, and I know you aren't just some kid now, you proved that enough, so, maybe I could give you a chance, and we could try dating? If you want to, that is?"  
"Want to? I'd love to, Fiona!" The male fox grinned, wrapping his arms around the vixen.  
"My place at six?"  
"I'll be there. I'm not going to be late a second time today."  
"Excellent." She winked. With that, she kissed Tails' cheek, pivoted on her heel, and walked away, the spring back in her step., wobbling slightly with the heels. "Catch you later."  
"Will do!" He called, as she vanished around the corner. "Things just got a whole lot brighter."

* * *

**So yeah, that's our take on it. Like with the other collab, I'll sum up my final thoughts:**

**Vorahk's thoughts: Okay, whew. Production on this one wasn't as smooth as I would have liked, but it was about level with Splintered Shadows, so I won't complain, and it was only the issues that arose around the time of the finale that caused that.**

I suppose my opinion of the original comic would be something to discuss. I know Therix hasn't read it and likely has no animosity towards the issue aside from what he's picked up from me, but I will say that issue 172 of the Sonic comics is without a doubt my least favourite issue of the comic that I have ever had the misfortune of picking up. It's nothing more than blatant glorifying of Scourge, character assassination for Fiona, and a string of kick the dog moments. It was really the point that it set in that Scourge would be an insufferable storm of recolour clichés that completely fail to satirize the source material.

As for Fiona's treatment, it's comparable to Sally's derailment in 134- She goes from being a normally smart, level-headed character to a total bitch in a microsecond, over a completely shitty reason, then belts her fandom-preferred significant other in the face and gains a massive hatedom. If anything, this is even more unnecessary than it was in 134. Sally could have just been kept going as is and been fine, but Fiona had multiple different directions her character could have taken, and almost all of them were better than this. And let's not forget that this is the point where she goes from being a badass normal who isn't amazingly strong, but intelligent and highly-skilled, and just separate enough from Sally to not count as a lame clone, to a super-strong, super-agile ninja who retains none of her own traits and becomes an evil counterpart to Sally instead. A face heel turn could have been well done for her, but instead, we get something that eschews character and the development thereof in order to give the furry fandom a boner.

Oh, and the second story is about Amy learning not to rely entirely on a hammer. First, it's Amy, so I automatically feel nothing nicer than contempt, second, this has had zero payoff. She's still wholey reliant on on the hammer.

Thus, the task was ahead of me. I wanted to create something that was the antithesis to this terrible issue. It didn't glorify Scourge (We killed him off), it didn't assassinate Fiona's character (We furthered her pre-existing development), and, in general, was actually fun to read (Unlike the issue in question). And I think we succeeded.

Of course, I wanted this to be extra-awesome, hence why I invited Therix along. Splintered Shadows was well-received, and it had some kickass fight scenes in it. I decided that giving this the same treatment was the best idea. Yes, we got a more aggressive Tails as a result, but for what happens in the story, I think it works.

I also think that the Suppression Squad reinventing themselves without Scourge's influence makes more sense. Otherwise, why would they upgrade from a biker-gang look to their more militaristic style, while Scourge keeps the biker look? Hence, they're already beyond using the names of their Prime selves.

It was enjoyable to work on, the changes Therix made only improved it, and I don't really have anything else to say. See you in whatever I create next, and thank you for reading.


End file.
